The Internet is a worldwide network of computers and computer networks arranged to allow the easy and robust exchange of information between the users of the computers. Hundreds of millions of people around the world have access to computers connected to the Internet via one of the hundreds of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Content providers place information, generally multimedia information in the form of graphics and sounds as well as data, at specific locations on the Internet referred to as Web sites that are typically hosted by an ISP. The combination of all the Web sites and their corresponding Web pages on the Internet is generally known as the world wide Web (Web or www).
Web sites may be created using HyperText Markup Language (HTML) to generate a standard set of tags that define how the Web pages for the Web site are to be displayed. Internet users may access content providers' Web sites using a software program known as a browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. After the browser has located the desired Web page, it requests and receives information from the Web page, typically in the form of an HTML document, and then displays the Web page's content for the user. The user may then view other Web pages at the same Web site or move to an entirely different Web site using the browser.
Web site owners often use their Web sites for business purposes, selling a wide range of goods and services as well as displaying paid advertisements. In order to increase revenue, Web site owners try to attract additional Internet users, i.e. customers, to their Web sites. However, with an ever increasing number of Web sites on the Internet, Web site owners are finding it increasingly difficult to attract customers to their Web sites. This trend is likely to continue as the number of businesses trying to gain a presence on the Internet increases the competition for the attention of the Internet users. The future level of success for many of these businesses will depend on their ability to attract Internet users, i.e. customers, to their Web sites.
Web sites are predominantly found by Internet users through the use of a search engine or directory. Some of the more widely used search engines are, for example, AOL, Google, Yahoo, Excite and Dogpile. Internet users are able to enter a search phrase comprised of one or more keywords or a phrase, typically a name of a good or service or a topic of interest, into a search engine. The search engine will display a list of Web sites, i.e. a result list, that the search engine has determined are related to the search phrase along with links to the Web sites. The search engines invariably display the Web sites in a particular order or rank thereby producing a result list. The Web sites that the search engine has determined are of the highest quality or are the Web sites with content most closely related to the search phrase are displayed near the top of the result list, while lower quality Web sites or those not as closely related to the search phrase are displayed lower on the result list. The sheer number of Web sites currently on the Internet can often result in the result list having multiple pages of Web site related to many common search phrases.
In an effort to increase traffic flow to their Web sites, Web site owners typically register their Web sites with one or more search engines. The search engines may try to determine the search phrases that are related to each submitted Web site. The methods used by the search engines vary from search engine to search engine and each search engine typically keeps its exact methodology a secret. In general though, most search engines parse through the various parts of the Web sites submitted to them for registration. The keywords and phrases that are discovered by parsing the submitted Web sites are used to determine if a Web site should be cited based on the search phrase entered by Internet users.
Not surprisingly, Web site owners have noticed that Web sites listed near the beginning of a result list receive substantially more traffic than Web sites listed near the end of a result list. It is thus important not only for a Web site to be on the result list generated by the search engines, but to also be listed as high as possible on the result list. The search engines typically display the Web sites that are determined to be related to a Internet user's search phrase in an order based on the perceived quality of the Web sites by the search engine and the closeness of the contents of the Web sites to the search phrase. The search engines use different algorithms in an attempt to determine the quality of submitted Web sites.
In an effort to raise the rank of their Web sites on the result lists, Web site owners are altering their Web sites so that search engines are more likely to determine their Web sites are of a higher quality. However, few Web site owners are familiar with all the factors used in the algorithms by the search engines and are thus unable to take advantage of all the beneficial alterations that they could be making. Further, operators of search engines are aware of the common tactics used by owners of Web sites to artificially raise their rank and the operators adjust the algorithms of their search engines to counter these efforts. In addition, few Web site owners are familiar with the procedures or want to spend the time in submitting and tracking the status of their Web sites with a large number of search engines.
New systems and process are therefore needed to attract customers and increase traffic flow to Web sites that overcome the limitations of current methods. Thus, there remains a need for systems and processes which reduce or eliminate the problems associated with the conventional methods. Specifically, systems and processes are needed to assist Web site owners in submitting their Web sites to a large number of search engines and to get their Web sites listed as high as possible on the result lists generated by the search engines.